I had an occasion recently after a heavy downpour to use the windscreen defogger on my 2003 S60R done 45,000 Km. It did its job and I reverted to normal Air-Con cooling mode for the rest of my trip home. The next morning I went to the garage and started the vehicle as usual - with air-con controls in auto and temps set to 22 degrees Celcius as per normal. As the blower fan ran up to a higher speed (it does this on auto when you first start up, to cool the vehicle quicker, then reverts automatically to a slower speed) the fan vibration and noise seemed unbelievably high, to the point I thought I had a serious engine fault. Once I reduced the fan speed back from number 6 to 2 the vibration and noise reduced accordingly to the point where it's just bearable on 2. I have tried checking various control settings but nothing seems to pinpoint an obvious failure. I must admit I don't think the pollen filter has ever been changed on this vehicle (7 years old) and I am wondering if anything could have dislodged and be partially blocking the intake and might be attributing to such vibrations? I'm not sure where or how to get at the pollen filter on this vehicle? Maybe it's not the pollen filter? Anyone got any ideas on what might be the cause or where to look. Appreciate any feedback.

 

Change the blower behind the glove compartment. Vibration with loud noise are indications that the blower is faulty.